Siquijor Island, Philippines

Siquijor Island, Philippines

Welcome to a new post and a new Youtube video about Siquijor, an island in the Visayas in the Philippines.

How we got there

After Moalboal we drove 1.45h with a Tricycle down to Liloan Port for 800P. From the small port goes a boat to Sibulan Port (100PpP). There we took another Tricycle to Dumaguete City (150P). We stayed at Golden Gate Suites for two nights because we did a Dive Tour to Apo Island the next day. Unfortunately again we could not film because we did not have a suitable case for the GoPro Session. The diving was amazing, we saw so many nice corals and fishes and the best thing were the huge sea turtles we saw! I saw at least 5 of them. We booked the dive tour at Scuba Ventures which belongs to Harolds Mansion Hostel and paid 2800PpP for two dives including transportation, equipment and lunch.

Siquijor Island

From Dumaguete we drove with the 2Go ferry to Siquijor Town (100PpP) which took about 2h. We did not book any accommodation so for the first night we ended up at Toris Paradise because it is very near from the port and a few people told us that it was beautiful there. Actually this place did not really impress. We had a room right at the beach but the beach was not really appealing. The whole place itself was under construction and not well maintained. But the restaurant is cute and the people are very friendly. We rented a motorbike the next day from them for 300P for 24h and drove around the island to fiend a new accommodation and to explore the island. That was how we found Coral Cay Resort – our favourite place so far.

the beach in front of Coral Cay Resortsunset over Apo Island from Coral Cay Resort

We drove 2h till the famous Salagdoong Beach – and it was a huge dissapointment. It was just a small, ordinary beach with an ugly restaurant where they had no real food around and some tables to eat. So we had to drive back another 2 hours – hungry and disappointed. After this 4h drive we both had a bad sunburn on legs and face. On our way back to Toris Paradise to get our luggage which we left there for the day we passed Coco Grove Resort – and had to enter this huge mysterious portal. The very helpful and friendly staff showed us around and we saw at least 5 different rooms until we decided to book an Executive Room for our last 2 nights on the island.

Salagdoong Beach – not worth a visit

The next two days we spent in and around our beautiful bungalow at Coral Cay Resort with our own balcony right on the most beautiful beach ever. Coral Cay is located in San Juan. I really recommend Coral Cay Resort because of the beautiful but affordable bungalows for 2000P per night and the very nice restaurant with good food and drinks. We rented another motorbike from them to drive to the Lugnason Fall which is nice to see and worth a visit as it is not a long drive. We also did not swim in it because it was raining when we arrived there. Then we drove all the way to the middle of the island to Mount Malabahoc which should have a viewing platform – but actually you had zero view! They once built some platforms inside the trees but did not maintain it. As often the drive itself was the best part where you had some beautiful views over the island.

As mentioned we stayed at the Coco Grove Resort for the last 2 nights for a little more luxury. We paid 6800P for our huge room on top of the hotel with an amazing view over the ocean. We were watching the sunset from our own balcony and even ordered our dinner into the room. The resort has 3 swimming pools and a stunning beach with little huts and mattress to sunbath. We took a free kayak to snorkel in the Tubod Marine Sanctuary right in front of the resort. It was the most amazing snorkeling we did so far! Thousand of fishes in every shape, size or colour and beautiful healthy corals. That was worth every Peso we paid.

sunset view from our Executive Suite at Coco Grove Beach Resort

Siquijor is our favourite island so far and we should have spent more days there. We liked it so much because it was very laid back and there is not too much impact from tourism. Hopefully this will not change in the next few years.